Union cautions Buhari over plan to sack 1,083 health workers

Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) on Saturday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun to rescind his plans to dismiss 1,083 workers of Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), Osogbo.
Mr Afolabi Abiodun, the Chairman of JOHESU in Osun, made the appeal while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo.
He alleged that the plans to sack the workers had reached an advanced stage, while the yet-to-be-delivered termination letters of the workers had already been written by the hospital’s management board, on the order of the state governor.
Abiodun stressed that at this juncture, only Buhari’s intervention could save the situation and prevent the planned workers’ sack.
He said that the governor had already taken a position on the audit report carried out on the hospital, which recommended that 1,083 workers, out of the 2,047 workforce of the hospital, should be laid off.
He said that the governor jettisoned all other recommendations of the audit report but decided to stick to the recommendation on downsizing the workforce.
Abiodun said that in reaction to the government’s plans, a peaceful protest was staged within the hospital premises on Wednesday.
He warned that if the “downsized” workers were eventually served with the termination letters, all the workers would go on strike.
Meanwhile, the state government has debunked the claims regarding the purported plans to sack bona fide workers of LAUTECH.
One of the governor’s aides, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, told NAN that only workers who were recruited into the hospital without the mandatory government’s approval would be affected by the exercise.
He stressed that the state government was not interested in the sack of any of its worker.
“Government is not interested in the sack of any of its employee but rather its interest has always been how to get more people employed in the state via its job creation policy.
“But having said that, if there are any noticeable irregularities in the recruitment exercise of any government agencies, that does not mean such thing will be overlooked,” he said.
Okanlawon said that the report of a forensic examination carried out in LAUTECH revealed that there had been irregular recruitment in the hospital since 2012.
“It is just unfortunate for anyone to lose his job but all the same, government cannot overlook any perceptible irregularity in the process of recruitment,” he added. (NAN)